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The Hot Rock
Donald Westlake Book Review

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Plot Summary of The Hot Rock
"Westlake's first Dortmunder novel. A bit more basic than later ones - no girlfriends or strongly developed anatagonists as would be the case later - but still a very clever and very entertaining caper novel by the master of such."
Simon DelMonte, Resident Scholar

"In this, the first Dortmunder novel, Dortmunder and his crew are hired to steal a famous emerald. And they do - or at least attempt to - over and over again: by train, by helicopter, by hypnotism. Unfortunately, the emerald is always one step ahead of them. Hilarious."
Ivy, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Hot Rock
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of story - Dry-cynical - very upbeat
How difficult to spot villain? - Somewhat obvious
Time/era of story: - 1960's-1970's
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller Yes
Crime plotlets: - search for gems/treasure/money
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - thief/con artist
Age: - 20's-30's
How much violence does he/she use? - a little
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - diplomat
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
The antagonists are: - Latin American/Asian/African Dictator
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
City? Yes
City: - New York
Misc setting - prison - moving train

Style
Part of a series? Yes
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - no torture/death
How many deaths? - 0 (not a murder mystery)
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
Most similar books to The Hot Rock
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Nobody's Perfect by Donald Westlake
The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block


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